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App Review: TweetBot


As you all know, I’m a huge addict to Twitter. Since I have purchased my iPhone 4S, I have become even more of an addict since I have the capabilities to Tweet a lot quicker, on the go. I’m always up for trying new Twitter clients since the official Twitter client for any iOS device is a bit lackluster.

I have tried multiple applications and I think I have finally found my favorite one. For $2.99, you can also experience this amazing application on your iPhone, iPad or iPod Touch. Enjoy my overview of TweetBot. If you enjoyed this video, please Like and Subscribe to my YouTube Channel!




What is MJ Web Associates?

Many people have been asking me what exactly is MJ Web Associates.  To keep it simple, it’s a company that designs professional quality web sites for a great price.  Below is a bit about MJ Web Associates…

About Us

MJ Web Associates was founded in 2012.  We specialize in building you a professional website for your business.  Don’t own a Business?  No worries!  If you are looking for a personal website, we can certainly do that.  With professional skills in graphic design and online marketing, we assure your website to be highly ranked in no time.

Why We’re Better

Snappy Response Time

  • When you call or email us with a high priority request, we will always respond same day.
  • Normal priority emails and phone calls will always be responded to within 24 hours

What We Create Belongs to You

  • 100% of our clients will be given full ownership of the work we’ve created for them.
  • You will receive a detailed proposal outlining all project costs upfront, so there are no hidden fees
  • We will give you a detailed list of all credentials for everything created.  This means, everything we create, is 100% yours.

We Beat the Competitors

  • With 100s of other business’s out there doing web design, we strive to provide competitive pricing.
  • Most companies charge an arm and a leg.  We assure you with great competitive pricing.
  • If you receive a quote for cheaper then what we provide, send us proof of the quote and we will price match!

If you are still interested in knowing more about MJ Web Associates, visit their website and get in contact with them.  There website is http://mjwebassociates.com.



3 Alternatives to Picnik, the Online Photo Editor

You may recall a blog post from a few days ago about Google planning to shut down Picnik in April.  Picnik was a life saver for many bloggers on a deadline who just needed to make simple photo edits and didn’t want to fire up Photoshop.  Even though we are very bummed at Google for making such a daring move, we kept our spirits up and did a search for you all.

Here are 3 sites that you can use if you need a quick online photo fix.

Fotoflexer – Looking for a similar photo editor with a lot of the same options as Picnik?  This will definitely be the site for you.  During our tests, we have noticed that load time isn’t very snappy and is much slower than Picnik.  There are advanced features that include a blemish fix and some easy-to-use layer functions.  Believe it or not, you have probably already used this editor.  It may look familiar because Picasa, Flickr, Photobucket and Facebook are using it as well.

Pixlr – Head over to this editor and you’ll notice they put out a “Welcome Mat” for Picnik users.  The site’s “express” version is almost identical to the former competitor.  During our tests, we have noticed that it’s very quick to upload photos and offers a bunch of options from the adjustment menu.  Even though the upload times are snappy, we found the pop-up menus for each function to be very time consuming.

Pixenate – This is a photo editor that may actually top them all for the photo printing and photo sharing business.  It doesn’t offer as many menu options as the others but they are fully complete with crop, rotate, red eye, colors, plus a nice “fill light” button for underexposed photos.  On top of the small features, you can also draw your own images in the “doodle” option.  Looking to do more than just post to the internet and save to your desktop?  Pixenate allows you to print the image on a T-shirt, mug, tote, etc…

With Picnik in its last few weeks, will you be checking out any of these services?  Have you used any of these services?  Please leave your thoughts in the comment section.




Canon Powershot ELPH 300 HS Review


After seeing many other YouTubers on the web shoot their videos with this Canon Powershot ELPH 300 HS, I knew it was time to upgrade from my Kodak Zi8.  The Kodak Zi8 was a great camera for its time but I was well outdated and needed an upgrade of video quality.  After doing some research and asking for advice, I settled on the Canon Powershot ELPH 300 HS.

If you are looking to start doing YouTube videos and have a tight budget, the Canon Powershot ELPH 300 HS is for you.  With a price point of under $200, you’re basically stealing this camera for it’s video quality.  It’s an amazing bang for your buck.  You get stellar video quality in 1080p or 720p.  Either way you look at it, you still have HD and it looks absolutely amazing for such a small device.  This camera truly is perfect for anyone with YouTube in mind.

Don’t keep still pictures out of your mind.  This powerful Canon Powershot ELPH 300 HS has some amazing potential to capture some great looking photographs.  You take all your pictures in either widescreen or normal.  I’m going to step out on a limb and say this camera is just a step below DSLR quality.

At such a low price tag with such high quality, this camera will probably be the best in its class.  What are your thoughts on the Canon Powershot ELPH 300 HS?  Leave your thoughts in the comments.



Barack Obama Joins Instagram

The GOP candidates campaigning in Iowa weren’t the only ones having fun Tuesday. President Barack Obama, or rather the Obama 2012 campaign, joined Instagram the same day as the Iowa caucus.

If you’re interested in following the president’s seventies-inspired campaign shots, you can follow his handle@BarackObama. In less than a day, and with just two uploads, the U.S. President has already amassed more than 15,000 followers. Obama’s campaign staff, who runs the account, are inviting Instagram users to tag their own campaign shots with the hashtag #Obama2012.

“We look forward to seeing how President Obama uses Instagram to give folks a visual sense of what happens in the everyday life of the President of the United States,” the company wrote in a blog post Tuesday.

However, don’t expect to see the president channeling his artsy side. The account is after all, run by his staff. Here’s the second shot uploaded Tuesday, showing the president speaking via video conference to the Iowa caucus attendees:

obama instagram
Many touted the Obama 2008 campaign’s use of social media to spread its message and engage with young voters. By joining Instagram, the 2012 campaign is trying to prove it has not lost touch with the hip digital tools the kids are using. None of the GOP campaigns have plunged into the social iPhone photography app.

The Obama 2012 has previously posted photos to Twitter, Facebook, Google+ and Tumblr. Do you think the filtered images bring anything new to the campaign?

[via Mashable]



G-SHOCK Watch To Tell You Who’s Calling, Texting & Emailing Your Smartphone

If you’re any bit human then you’ll be a typical person who HATES to pull their smartphone out of your pocket just to check that new email only to find out that it wasn’t worth the effort.  How awesome would it be if we could have a watch to tell us who’s calling, texting and emailing our smartphone?  With Casio’s upcoming G-SHOCK watch, this won’t be a problem.  In fact, this smart watch will be able to do much more than tell us who’s calling, texting and emailing.

Casio plans on calling this watch the G-SHOCK GB-6900 which plans to launch on March 16, 2012.  At a quick glance, this watch looks like every other G-SHOCK watch.  As we all know, there is some pretty impressive features that sets this watch apart from any other watch on the market.

The GB-6900 connects to your smartphone via Bluetooth LE (low energy) to display incoming alerts.  These alerts include phone calls, text messages and emails but also gives you the ability to silence your device’s ringer without having to take your smartphone out of your pocket.

Before going out and spending the money on this watch, make sure that your smartphone is compatible with it’s Bluetooth 4.0.  Bluetooth 4.0 isn’t widely available on today’s smartphones.  In fact, many resources have claimed that the only devices it is currently compatible with are the Medias LTE N-04D and Medias PP N-01D Andreoid handsets from NEC.

The upside for the watch using Bluetooth 4.0 is that it consumes a fraction of the energy/battery of other bluetooth versions.  Casio claims that the watch itself will run for around two years on a single CR2032 button battery.  For using bluetooth all the time, that’s an incredible lifetime for a battery.

The GB-6900 was due to launch in December for this past holiday season.  Due to flooding in Thailand, the release date was pushed back to March 2012.  The launch price will be set at about $230.

What do you think of the Casio G-SHOCK GB-6900?  If you have a Bluetooth 4.0 device, would you be willing to purchase it?  Leave your thoughts in the comment section.

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Review/Comparison: Snowball USB Microphone

The Snowball USB Microphone is a great microphone to purchase for a step up microphone from an internal microphone.  Believe it or not, this has amazing audio quality and some may even say it sounds professional.  The Snowball performs exceptionally well for recording acoustic instruments.  If you’re looking to purchase this microphone for voice overs or podcasts, it will treat you perfectly well but I would recommend other microphones for the job.  Check out the full review video to see a full review, my thoughts, and even a comparison of the Audio Technica AT2020 USB Microphone.



Metal-backed iPhone 5 Rumor Strikes Again

How many of you would believe me if I said that Apple plans on releasing the new iPhone 5 with a metal backing?  Of course, this would be a rumor that has hit the surface once before so many people will probably just brush right over this posting.  According to a closed source (which we will call Joe Bobaloo), Joe Bobaloo posted a list of new features which includes the new metal backing to an updated iPhone 5 which is due to release next Fall.

According to Joe Bobaloo, the new iPhone 5 (if they call it that) will feature an entirely new physical structure of the iPhone which includes this new aluminum backing and a “rubber or plastic material” along the edges that will bridge the front and back of the device.

As many are probably aware, this isn’t the first case of seeing this backing for the future iPhone.  A 9to5Mac report in March said that Apple was cooking up a model with a flat metal back.  As we all saw, Apple decided to mainly update their software and keep the physical structure of the phone the same.  Do you see a trend?  They did this with the iPhone 3 and 3GS.  Maybe this will mean that the new release if the iPhone (5?) will be a completely new redesign like the past.

Will Apple keep this strong and continue with the recent trends or change it up?  What do you think about having a metal backing to the new generation iPhone?  Do you think this would help keep the phone more structurally equipped or make this worse?  Leave your thoughts in the comments.



AMD Announces New Mac Pro-Suitable Radeon HD 7970 Graphics Card

Earlier this month, we noted that developer builds of OS X 10.7.3 were showing evidence of AMD’s forthcoming “Tahiti” graphics card family, the first to be built using 28-nanometer technology. The evidence suggested that Apple was at least preparing for the possibility of the cards being used in a Mac Pro update next year, an update that is reportedly still in question given uncertainty about the future of the line.


In the wake of those findings, AMD today officially announced the high-end Radeon HD 7970 from the Tahiti line, billing it as the world’s fastest single-chip graphics card.

With the arrival of the AMD Radeon HD 7970, AMD has unleashed its revolutionary new Graphics Core Next Architecture that enables new levels of gaming and compute capabilities – realizing an improvement of over 150% in performance/sq mm over the prior generation. Engineered with support for PCI Express 3.0 and AMD CrossFire technology, the AMD Radeon HD 7970 graphics card arrives prepared for the next level of gaming.

Engadget has a nice roundup of reviews of the new card, with testers generally reporting significantly improved performance over the current generation of equivalent AMD cards and other high-end competitors such as NVIDIA’s GeForce GTX 580. On the negative side, reviews cited the card’s $549 price tag and significant noise under high load.

The Radeon HD 7970 will launch on January 9th, and AMD is also reported to be preparing to launch a slightly scaled-down model in the form of a Radeon HD 7950 card.

With new Xeon processors from Intel launching in the first quarter of 2012 and AMD’s new graphics card offerings lining up for a January launch, parts do appear to be coming together for a significant upgrade for the Mac Pro, which has not been updated since July 2010. What remains to be seen is whether Apple will continue to invest in its professional-level workstation line.

[via MacRumors]



Canon Powershot ELPH 300 HS HD Montage: Inside


Of course I’m going to have to show off the quality of the Canon Powershot ELPH 300 HS. This video demonstrates the HD quality with all videos being shot at an inside environment. I added no color correction of any sorts. Video was rendered with 1080p-25fps to try and stay with the original camera settings.



Holiday Free Shipping by Apple: Today only!

Look at the calendar, did you realize that Christmas is in just 4 days!  I hope I didn’t leave you scrambling to go Christmas shopping for loved ones.  If you plan on buying gifts from Apple’s online store, you may want to buy them tonight and not wait until tomorrow.  Apple has upgraded its holiday shipping offer to provide free next-day shipping on almost all of its hottest items.  In order for this to work, you’ll have to order no later than today to ensure you will receive your purchases on Christmas Eve.

The deadline for free next-day shipping is today, December 21, with delivery promised by December 24.  Most of the popular items are covered, including Macs, iPads, iPods, and the Apple TV.  Items that will not be included in the great holiday offer are iPhone 4S (which are still in short supply), items that have custom engraving and custom-built Macs that have been build to your specifications.

If you have a loved one who has been dying for a Mac and you thought you’ve ran out of time, you’re in luck!  Empty those wallets for your special someone and put a big smile on their face.  Will you be last-minute shopping at the Apple online store today/tonight?



5 Apps Worth Downloading this Week

iOS Applications are probably one of the world’s most downloaded pieces of software.  I’m here to give you guys the top 5 Apps that are worth downloading this week.  I’ll be covering Temple Run, Rail Maze, Drag Racing, Amazing Breaker and Evernote.

If you would like me to ever review an application and possibly have it in this serious, please suggestions/sponsor them to me by contacting me here.

Temple Run (Free)

Temple Run is a great action filled adventure game for your iOS device.  Basically, it’s a never ending running game that’s very simple to learn and will be addicting for weeks to come.  I hope you enjoy running away from big monkeys or chimpanzees.  For a never ending game, the graphics are amazing that brings the frames to life with some 3D animations.

Features

  • Simple swipe and tilt controls that are easy to use and just feel right
  • Level up your character and use crazy powerups
  • Original 3D running mechanic combining turning, jumping, sliding and tilting – the first of its kind!
  • Play as 7 different characters!
  • Game Center Leaderboards and Achievements
  • Incredibly fun, just one more time, endless game play!

With a perfect 5 start rating in the iTunes App Store, I would highly recommend this application to all ages.

Rail Maze (Free)

“Rail Maze is an amazing puzzle game that will give you so many different options, you’ll be busy playing it for hours.”

If you’re into games that really put your mind to the test, Rail Maze by Spooky House Studios is probably a perfect match for you.  The object of the game is to get the train from begin to end by turning around tracks and avoiding obstacles and bombs.  It’s a great puzzle game for all ages.  While the game play might sound a bit corny, I promise you will become addicted in a matter of no time.

Features

  • 100+ puzzles
  • Tunnels
  • Bombs
  • Pirate Trains
  • Super long trains
  • Global online scoreboards by Scoreloop
  • 4 Game modes: Labyrinth, Build Railroad, Snake, Longest Railroad

With a current rating of 4 stars in the app store, you know it’ll be a good choice.  Game play is simple to learn but will take days to master each puzzle.  I would also recommend this application to all ages.  This application is also available for a small purchase of $0.99 for the pro model.

Drag Racing  (Free)

Being a guy that has racing in their blood, of course I’m going to choose this application for this week.  In this game, you won’t even notice that hours that have just ticked by while you’re playing this game.  Of course, if you’re not into cars, you may not enjoy this realistic drag racing game.  With over 50 cars ranging from imports to all american muscle, you will always find a car that suits you and your personality.  The game play is all about racing the opponent and trying to win.  Isn’t that how all racing games are played?  Graphics aren’t leading edge, but they are still very beautiful.

With so many features and so little time to type them all, I’ll just leave you with this.  World Records will be making its way to this application.  Wouldn’t you like to say you have one of the fastest cars in the game, world wide?

Like I said, this game might only suit those who are truly into cars but if you are not, don’t knock it.  Give it a try and you might find yourself a new and expensive life hobby!  Just stay out of trouble with the law and speeding.  If you would like to avoid seeing advertisements during your game play, a small fee of $0.99 will eliminate all ads.  With an under rating of 3 1/2 stars, this application deserves more respect and I would recommend to all ages.

Amazing Breaker ($0.99)

Interested in a game that may be more addicting then the popular Angry Birds, check this out.  The basics of this game is to toss bombs and destroy a glassy textured shape.  It sounds weird but I’m not so sure how to exactly describe it.  You will just have to check it out and take my word on this.  This application puts your mind to the task as well as steady hands and good eye judgement.  Who doesn’t like blowing things up in HD Quality graphics?

“It’s definitely a must-buy if you like challenging puzzle games”

Features:

  • Full high resolution Retina Display graphics
  • Addictive “Aim and Shoot” gameplay
  • Game Center and Achievements and OpenFeint
  • 80 Awesome Levels
  • More levels coming soon…
  • Easy to learn but hard to master
  • Explosive Excitement (literally) – create cascades of exploding crystals

If you’re skeptical about spending a misely one dollar, you can always download the free version which lets you try out 20 levels so you can get the hang of the game.  Honestly, take my word and just spend the buck.  For a well deserved 4 1/2 stars, I again, highly recommend this application to all ages.

Evernote (Free)

If you are anything like me, you love to be organized.  I have found Evernote to be an extremely helpful tool to help me stay organized while I brain storm and take notes.  Evernote lets you take notes on your iOS device on the go and it automatically syncs up with your computer if you have Evernote installed on your computer.  Evernote is also available for BlackBerry and I believe Android.  It’s not only for notes because it lets you have the ability to snap pictures and take audio notes.  There are so many fantastic little features to help you stay organized.

Features:

  • Create text, photo and audio notes
  • Auto-synchronize your notes to your Mac, PC, and Web
  • Magically makes text within snapshots searchable
  • Mark notes as “Favorite” for quick access
  • All notes include geo-location information for mapping and search

If you aren’t an organized person, you should really consider starting out and using this application.  It’s very simple to use and master and it will always look pleasing to the eye.  Evernote uses a great style when you’re typing and saving notes.  Once you get organized, you will see a bit more ease in your life goals.  Trust me!  With a 4 1/2 star rating, why not try to get organized!  Perfect for all ages but best for the business man and school student.

    



Unboxing: NS-PCS21 Insignia Speaker System

After my old speakers decided to take a dive off the desk and break, I went out and purchased a temporary speaker set.  I’ve always been big into my audio and I always strive to have the best audio.  I know these cheap speakers won’t stand up to my expectations, but they will have to do for the time being.  So far, they are amazing for the price point but keep in mind, you get what you pay for.  I hope you enjoy the unboxing of the NS-PCS21 Insignia Speaker System.

If you are interested in purchasing these speakers, click here.



Targus 42″ Travel Tripod Review

About a week or so ago, you should have seen an unboxing of this small travel tripod.  Now I’m here to do a complete review.  In this video, I’m trying out a new way of small clips and a voice over.  Let me know what you all think about this and if the music should stay or go.  I’m aware, some of the transitions got screwed up in the rendering.  Not much I can do about that!



New YouTube Layout

If you’ve visited a YouTube video page in the past few days, you’ve probably seen a few things they’ve done.  Something that I really appreciate is the fact that I have more options in handling videos that I have recorded.  I feel that everything is much easier to access and navigate.  Everything seems to flow nicely and navigating around, finding content, and subscribing is much better.  The “subscribe” button feels a bit more prominent which is always a good thing for us YouTube Creators.  I just wish they would have made the “subscribe” button yellow as we all know it so it pops a bit more.

When watching a video, not much has changed in terms of design.  Many people may only notice the background of the page being a light grey instead of white.  This was an awesome choice by YouTube to do so.  Why?  It lets the video pop through a bit more and give your eyes better focusing on the video.  It also doesn’t let your eyes strain so much to view.  It has a warm feeling to it then a bright feeling.  I hope this makes sense to you.

If you’re not an avid user of YouTube, you may not have noticed that the description field now shows you about 3 1/2 lines of text instead of one line before hitting the “Show More” tab.  This could come in handy if you are big into marketing and SEO for your videos.  Did YouTube actually do something right?

The biggest change you might realize is the new homepage.  I love what they have done with the subscriptions area.  I love the fact that now everything will appear there and with the newest videos first.  I feel it will benefit people that want to see the newest content in their subscription box.  My complaints with this area is the fact that we can’t click the “x” on a video that we have already watched to remove it from the subscription area but that’s something that I can live with.

If you only come on YouTube to watch a handful of people, you can now pin up to 10 subscriptions to the left hand side.  When clicking on their name, you will be greeted with all their most recent activity.  This could range anywhere from liking a video, commenting a video, and uploading a video.  Basically, they made stalking your idles a lot easier.  Basically, the homepage it now awesome.

The channel pages are the best improvement, in my opinion.  YouTube did everything right when it comes down to your channel page.  You are still able to have your featured video and that’s something they should never get ride of.  Now, instead of having all your uploaded videos on the sidebar in a small and cramped section, they are not below your featured video with a larger thumbnail with a short description.  This just makes navigation a whole lot easier for people trying to find videos on a users channel.

You are also able to create a banner for your channel.  This feature use to only be available for YouTube Partners and YouTube was kind enough to give it to all of the basic users as well.  This will give each person the ability to customize their page even more!

I could sit here and type a lot more what I enjoy about the new YouTube Layout but it would be a lot better for you to just check it out and explore yourself.  Do so by exploring my channel first and make your way to the whole site!  http://youtube.com/techjohnson



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